Brew & review top to bottom by Finlay Games [CC]
hello my beautiful butterflies
welcome back to my channel
if you’re new here my name is Beverley
and it’s lovely to see you today
in this video we’re going to be doing a little
book review so grab your brew let’s get to it
[calm folk music plays]
so i’ve been a big fan of this creator for a
while it’s Finn the infincible and he has written
a book top to bottom incredible title and i just
love this creator he is a blogger and a youtuber
i will leave links to all of the places down below
so make sure you go and check them out because i
absolutely just feel inspired by this person
i have for a long time they inspire me to
try different things to change my style a
little bit to be a little bit more personable
i suppose bring out my own personality you
know and i try and do that all the time
and that’s because of finn he is such an
incredible person and this book is so personal
and it’s so well written and i’m
not going to give you any spoilers
(giggles)
but let’s get to it shall we don’t forget to like
comment and subscribe let’s do this now as always
brew this is called bibliophilia and this is by
teaspectral i talk about this company a lot here on
the channel i will always cheer on my friends like
i’m doing this review i’m also always going
to be talking about my friend’s company
teaspectral this tea smells divine oh it smells
like ribena i apologize if you’re in a country
that doesn’t have ribena this smells just
like ribena and oh i cannot wait to have a
sip let’s talk about it shall we so inviting
classics of blackberry and sage illuminate
with cozy hints of vanilla and marshmallow i’m
sorry but that just sounds absolutely gorgeous
and what i love about teaspectral is they will
put down all of the ingredients so in this is
black tea blackberry leaf sage damania leaf
marshmallow root vanilla bean and because they
put all of those things on the label it means
us witches can then look at all the different
correspondences to do with those things and
make a little spell with our tea so i love that
not a lot of companies do that but i love that and
it’s beautiful tea i don’t know that you can see
but it’s gorgeous i uh oh yes let’s have a sip
i hope it’s not too hot i’ve only just made it
teaspectral never lets me down this was so nice
i’ll have another sippy sip but it’s just so
yummy and i have to say that this
company is based in california but
and you may feel a bit like oh my goodness
shipping and handling is going to be insane
worth it absolutely 150% worth it that’s all
i’m going to say that is all i’m gonna say
so let’s get to the review so top
to bottom is written by my friend
finn or finlay games as his full name is it’s a
memoir and personal guide through phalloplasty
i was really really excited to read this because
i try and be an ally to anybody who’s marginalized
so be a good ally you have to have knowledge
and understanding as best as you can of that
person’s experience and it’s really hard to
find out information about the whole experience
it’s really really difficult to find and i think
this book initially was written for people who
want to have a phalloplasty done but there’s
not a lot of information step by step from the
trans person’s point of view and so i’m sorry if
you can hear the rain we’re in the middle of a
thunderstorm i apologize if you can hear it i
love the sound of the rain though but i think
it’s really important to note that though this
was written for people wanting to go through
lower surgery it’s also great for us allies so
we can understand better what people go through
in order to transition to be the gender they were
they were supposed to be you know to change their
body so that they have no dysmorphia anymore and
i loved this book because it was written with so
much humor and so so much vulnerability finn was
open about the whole process step by step not just
about the step-by-step of the operations
because you do have to have like three or four
operations in order to transition and have this
done to you but he also talks a lot about how he
felt emotionally and what he was going through the
struggles of realizing he was trans in his 40s the
the struggle of transition and how that affected
his relationships with friends with the person he
was seeing at the time and how everything changed
in those three years that he was having those very
difficult very major surgeries they’re not small
surgeries at all they are so well explained though
i definitely felt like i could follow it i was a
nurse before i got sick but it wasn’t too medical
it was definitely explained in a way that the
average joe can understand which is so important
there’s so many people who will be needing this
information in order to make a decision on their
own journey and how they are going to affect be
affected but it’s also just talking about the
recovery process the surgeries the emotional
toll of having those the fact that he was so
open about how he would have flares of depression
after each surgery and how one of his surgeries
the doctor wasn’t very good at communication
so shall we say we’ve all been there but um not
all doctors are good at communicating with their
staff and with their patients and he talks very
much about how that affected his mental health
and i think that’s important that we advocate
for ourselves and for each other and explain yes
sometimes people aren’t great at listening to us
and aren’t great at talking and yet talking
about that in this book i thought was really
really important it makes you very vulnerable i
can imagine oh listen to the thunder i can imagine
this was a very very difficult process because
you’re putting yourself completely in the hands
of the surgeons and the nurses and i know we all
do when we have surgeries but generally speaking
the surgery isn’t so impactful on our mental
health and on just feeling like a full complete
person quite often finn talked about puzzle pieces
falling into place as he had each step happen and
that really made sense to me just imagining how i
would feel it as a woman if i then looked down and
saw a male body i would feel just really like off
kilter all the time just not quite right in myself
just trying to imagine how it would feel is not
the same of course but as an ally you have to try
and put yourself in that person’s shoes this
book is so well written from his point of view
that i felt like i could walk in his shoes for
a moment while i was reading that book and just
kind of understand the thinking and the feeling of
being transgender i was surprised that the process
was so emotional and when i look back i’m like why
was i surprised of course it’s emotional but there
were so many steps that he had to take to become
how he felt was like his true form that of course
it was an emotional journey but i think reading
his thoughts and feelings on each step of the way
really showed that this is more than just surgical
more than just medical towards the end of the book
finn talks about his sexual awakening and how
finding partners that were understanding and who
he trusted helped him to see that his body was not
certain areas that you were allowed to touch or
not touch and certain parts of him were no longer
seen as surgical sites or medical areas they were
just him and that was beautiful i thought that
was amazing i i really got a lot out of this book
i also found the process of his sexual awakening
was so beautiful from the respect of somebody
who has an anxiety disorder and who often feels
fear barriers of fear he showed that you know
what if you step into and you lean into that
fear and face it that’s where you can learn
and grow the most and i thought that
was such an important lesson to learn
i think so much of the time we put up barriers
to finn feeling that his body was not his own
until he’d had the surgeries meant that he
put barriers up over certain parts of his body
but as somebody with with an anxiety disorder
i often have barriers of fear up around certain
parts of my personality certain things that
i can’t do and it really showed me you know
what sometimes i have to lean into that fear a
little bit and try and step forward through it
and that’s when i will learn and grow the most
so it was really inspiring in that way as well
i absolutely loved the story at the end of him
meeting his lobster because she’s your lobster
oh she’s going somewhere
come on you guys it’s a known fact that lobsters
fall in love and mate for life i love that because
i followed finn for a few years now and he’s
been with furfur as he calls him for a while now
and i think they’re such a sweet cute couple
but to hear the stories of their beginning of
their relationship and how how he supported
finn through his final operation and through
discovering his new body and realizing that
it was a healing journey and something that he
needed to be patient about and that he had so much
patience with finn while he went through all these
emotional moments just beautiful they’re engaged
now as well which is so nice oh i love those two
so much they’re just they’re an adorable couple
i’ll leave links to finn’s instagram you can go
through and there’s lots of little cute soppy
posts about his fella which i think is so sweet
overall i just would recommend this book to anyone
really um people who are transphobic people who
want to be an ally or be a better ally and people
who are scared of having transition operations
and surgeries or are considering it this is a
good book for anyone really because not only do
you get the surgical information and healing and
he’s also got tips and tricks for helping healing
and what things helped him while he was healing
which is amazing but also it’s just seeing through
his eyes the world and how he views himself was
such an incredible journey to take with him and
i love this book i’m definitely going to read it
again and i will be recommending it to anybody
who asks me questions about anyone trans i’d be
like there’s a book that’ll help because i just
think it does help us understand and get a view of
the world through somebody else’s eyes and that’s
what’s so important books are such a great way of
walking a mile in somebody’s shoes and just trying
to understand from their point of view it lessens
fear it lessens worries you know i think it just
helps us all so go and get this book i will leave
a link to it down below so that you can also get
that book and i think next month we’re going to be
reading intuitive witchcraft so i’ll leave a link
to that as well down below in the description as
well as all the places that you need to buy the
tea to follow finn he’s amazing he does a lot of
stuff on his blog and his youtube channel about
self-care about mental health as well as trans
issues and i i i just look up to him so much he’s
everything that i want to be as a creator and i
think he’s amazing so finn you will always have my
support i love you dearly and this book’s amazing
i bought it with my own money this is all my own
opinion but i cannot fault this book at all it’s
it’s amazingly written and so well done i loved it
and i loved the tea too i really hope that you
enjoyed this video and you got something out of
it if you did don’t forget to leave me a cheeky
little like down below so that i know you enjoyed
it and i can bring more like this to my channel
in future if there’s anything you would like to
see me review in the future if there’s anything
you want to chit chat about any questions you’ve
got or it you’ve read this book or you want
to read this book or anything anything at all
let me know down below in the comments because
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this video and that you will head down into
the description and buy yourself a copy of this
book because it’s amazing it’s so so good don’t
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i hope you’re having a marvelous day today i hope
you’re doing well and i will see you next time bye
